Abstract

This chapter dismantle the various components of peace education. The purpose of which is to analyze closely how peace education progressed along time. Further, how the understanding of peace and education separately influenced the totality of peace education. The article uses critical approach to examine peace education through the various disciplines. The author proposes an idea of grass-root peace; one that all segments of society can enjoy, regardless to their economic or religious background. The chapter explores how to develop peace education that is politically-free and broadly comprehending the various elements that might strengthen peace education programmes. The author explores a structure of peace education that eventually can empower conventional values of peace such as justice as well as modern ones such as innovation.

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I dream that a day would come, when not only the sun rises, but when peace wears its light; when not only birds sing but when mankind narrates its rhythm;

when not only the moon shines at night, but when tranquility hovers around it tight.

I dream for this day not to take long to come ... but we ought to remember that the road to heaven is full of plight, yet our destination is surely worthy the hefty tide

I dream that a day would come, when not only peace is symbolically fine, but when it emphatically shines.

I dream of a day when the peace dove flies high, eager to reach its destination safe, sound and on time.

I dream of this day, when we all live in peace, rather than waiting for eternal peace, when our end comes.

Introduction

Peace education, as a concept, seems to be as old as some peace education masters, such as Confucius, yet it is also as young as the United Nations. In the old times, peace education was a way of life, as it was conveyed through religions manuscripts. Nevertheless, as the material life started to gain precedence over the spiritual one, the teaching of peace needed to be codified. This is the point at which peace transformed from a lifestyle to a life practice. This change, however, meant that peace could only be sustained as long as its practice does. Writing on peace education, Maria Montessori (1971),noted:

Peace is a goal that can only be attained through common accord, and the means to achieve this unity for peace are twofold: first, an immediate effort to resolve conflicts without recourse to violence—in other words, to prevent war—and second, a long-term effort to establish a lasting peace among men.

The clarity of this statement notwithstanding, the question of whether the current school systems are capable of fostering genuine peace education remains. The link between peace and education is glaringly obvious, as the latter is the “key tool in promoting peace, justice, cultural diversity and environmental awareness” (Education International, 2015). Nonetheless, in academia, education has traditionally been treated just as a means to an end. In other words, it was “education for peace” rather than “education as peace.” This relation between peace and education is an issue addressed in this work. The purpose is to reach an in-depth understanding of the complex relation between both seemingly obvious concepts. To do so, the author explores the components of peace and education separately and then jointly.